Unit 8 WHAP vocab

Tehran Conference

First major meeting between the Big Three at which they agreed to divide Germany into zones of occupation after the war

Yalta Conference

Meeting with US president, British Prime Minister, and Soviet Union leader during WWII to plan defeat of Japan and to plan for post-war world.

Potsdam Conference

The final wartime meeting of the leaders of the United States, Britain, and the Soviet Union. They discussed the future of Europe but their failure to reach meaningful agreements soon led to the onset of the Cold War.

Cold War

a state of political hostility between countries characterized by threats, propaganda, and other measures short of open warfare, in particular.

military-industrial complex

The close association of the federal government, the military, and defense industries

Iron Curtain

Winston Churchill's term for the Cold War division between the Soviet-dominated East and the U.S.-dominated West.

United Nations

An international organization formed after WWII to promote international peace, security, and cooperation.

Satellite Countries

small states that are economically or politically dependent on a larger, more powerful state

Containment

American policy of resisting further expansion of communism around the world

Sputnik

The first artificial satellite sent into space, launched by the Soviets.

Truman Doctrine

President Truman's policy of providing economic and military aid to any country threatened by communism or totalitarian ideology

Marshall Plan

A plan that the US came up with to revive war-torn economies of Europe. This plan offered $13 billion in aid to western and Southern Europe.

Council for Mutual Economic Assistance

An economic alliance to coordinate the economic affairs of the Soviet Union and its satellite countries.

Mutual Assured Destruction

idea that both sides would face certain destruction in a nuclear war

Proxy Wars

a war instigated by a major power that does not itself become involved.

Berlin Airlift

Joint effort by the US and Britain to fly food and supplies into W Berlin after the Soviet blocked off all ground routes into the city

Berlin Wall

Barrier set up in 1961 to separate East and West Berlin

North Atlantic Treaty Organization

an international organization created for purposes of collective security

Warsaw Pact

An alliance between the Soviet Union and other Eastern European nations.

Communist Bloc

communist states of Central and Eastern Europe during the Cold War

Korean War

The conflict between Communist North Korea and Non-Communist South Korea. The United Nations (led by the United States) helped South Korea.

Douglas MacArthur

American general, who commanded allied troops in the Pacific during World War II.

Dwight Eisenhower

United States general who supervised the invasion of Normandy and the defeat of Nazi Germany

Lyndon Johnson

president during the Vietnam War after JFK was shot

Domino Theory

A theory that if one nation comes under Communist control, then neighboring nations will also come under Communist control.

Fidel Castro

Communist dictator of Cuba who came into power in 1959.

John F. Kennedy

President of the US during the Bay of Pigs Invasion and the Cuban Missile Crisis

Bay of Pigs

An unsuccessful invasion of Cuba which was sponsored by the United States. Its purpose was to overthrow Cuban dictator Fidel Castro.

Nikita Khrushchev

Aggressive Soviet leader whose failed gamble of putting missiles in Cuba cost him his job

Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty

Made signers agree not to develop nuclear weapons or to stop the proliferation or spread of nuclear weapons.

Mao Zedong

Leader of the Communist Party in China that overthrew the Nationalists. Established China as the People's Republic of China.

Great Leap Forward

economic and social plan used in China which aimed to use China's vast population to rapidly transform the country from an agrarian economy into a modern industrial society.

Communes

Collective farms grouped together to organize farming and plan public services

Cultural Revolution

Campaign in China ordered by Mao Zedong to purge the Communist Party of his opponents and instill revolutionary values in the younger generation.

Theocracy

A government controlled by religious leaders

Ho Chi Minh

Communist leader of North Vietnam

Viet Cong

Communist guerrillas in South Vietnam

Zionist Movement

a nationalist movement among the Jews to establish a home land in Palestine

Palestine Liberation Organization

a political movement uniting Palestinian Arabs in an effort to create an independent state of Palestine

Fatah

a Palestinian political and military organization founded by Yasser Arafat in 1958 to work toward the creation of a Palestinian state

Hamas

a military terrorist group intent on replacing Israel with an Islamic State

Khmer Rouge

A group of Communist rebels who seized power in Cambodia in 1975.

Martin Luther King Jr.

Leader of the civil rights movement

Nelson Mandela

South African statesman who was released from prison to become the nation's first democratically elected president.

Ronald Reagan

First elected president in 1980 and elected again in 1984. He used the Strategic Defense Initiative to avoid conflict. His meetings with Gorbachev were the first steps to ending the Cold War.

Mikhail Gorbachev

Soviet statesman whose foreign policy brought an end to the Cold War and whose domestic policy introduced major reforms.

Detente

A policy of reducing Cold War tensions that was adopted by the United States during the presidency of Richard Nixon.

Strategic Defense Initiative

Became known as Star Wars and would be able to shoot missiles down from space.

Perestroika

A policy that involved restructuring of the social and economic status quo in communist Russia towards a market based economy and society

Glasnost

A policy which called for more openness with the nations of West, and a relaxing of restraints on Soviet citizenry.